Everyone for Victory

During WWII the Nazi government had an extensive propaganda program across its nation, garnering support for the war and denouncing various unwanted elements within the population i.e Jews. This program was most heavily active under Hitler’s propaganda minister Goebbels’, who specialized in propaganda both blatant and subtle. One of the goals of such propaganda was to rally the entirety of the German people behind the cause of the war.

The piece of Propaganda pictured above is a poster done in 1942 by Goebbels’ Berlin artist Mjölnir, whose real name was Hans Schweitzer. The caption above and below it roughly translates as “One Battle, One Will, One Goal: Victory at any cost!” This is a solid reflection of the mentality of the German government at this later point in the war as the United States was just beginning to get fully entrenched and involved. The idea that all of Germany had to be all together in the effort to stop the onslaught was not entirely a new one, in fact this is a reiteration of a similar poster Mjölnir did back in 1933 when the Nazi party was first coming into power. It also helps to emphasize the idea of the entire world fighting against them, and thus they must be united in order to press back.

The imagery is very powerful as well, in showing a unity between the German people at home and those on the battle front. First this is done through obvious positioning, with the everyday citizenry mirroring the soldiers in body language and position, moving forward into the fight. The poster also makes use of gender representation. By placing a woman in the poster in it emphasizes the need for unity under the Nazi party in the German people, despite gender or job.

The poster also does a good job of equating certain pieces of imagery in non sentient items. The hammer held by the worker is equated with the rifle held by the soldier just above him. Equally the factory is equated with the tank, both have their place in the war effort. However it is obvious by body positioning that the soldiers are still viewed as being over the everyday worker, since they are the driving force in the actual war, and this was also a typically a masculine role, showing masculine superiority in this sense.

This was the first time in the war that the Nazi’s were starting to question their ability to win as the war went on, especially with powers unifying against them. This poster helps to capture the German attitude as it developed at this stage of the war.

Sources:

Bytwerk, Randall L. Bending Spines: The Propagandas of Nazi Germany and the German Democratic Republic. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press, 2004.